Labour’s obsession with spin and image seems to have finally reached Hebburn.

If the latest pictures of councillor McCabe in his Val Doonican look-alike jumpers and grandad cardigans are anything to go by, councillor McCabe seems to have had a Labour makeover and is now being portrayed as everyone’s favourite grandad figure – he’s even been given the grey look.

Councillor McCabe has always had a reputation for having a bit of a short fuse and reckons he’s a bit of a hard man; some of his Labour colleagues call him phsyco. This may also explain the allegations of domestic violence and why his wife has now divorced him.

Mr Monkey has learned that councillor Iain Malcolm is scared shit-less of councillor McCabe and feels the only way to control him is to keep him on his side. But he’s also worried that the the image of one of his lackeys in a Stella stained string vest will not go down well with voters and has decided it’s time to soften his image with a grandad makeover.